For Immediate Release
Rearden Steel Technologies Becomes Moxi Digital and Unveils its Plans For Transforming the Home Entertainment Experience Company Announces All-in-One Entertainment Solution: the Moxi Media Center; its First Customer: EchoStar; and Technology Partnerships with Market Leaders Macromedia, RealNetworks and NDS Group plc
Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas, NV, January 7, 2002 – Rearden Steel Technologies, Inc. officially shed its stealth cover today by announcing its new identity, Moxi Digital, Inc., and its plans to transform the home entertainment experience. Led by technology visionary Steve Perlman, Moxi will provide advanced hardware and software platforms and products to broadband operators such as cable, satellite and DSL providers that enable them to deliver a multitude of new services to consumers. During CES, the company will unveil its flagship home entertainment platform, the Moxi™ Media Center™ (the Moxi MC™, for short), as well as announce several key partnerships with world-class technology companies such as EchoStar Communications Corporation, Macromedia, RealNetworks and NDS Group plc. “My entire career has been focused on delivering on the promise of home entertainment,” said Steve Perlman, founder, president and CEO of Moxi Digital, Inc. “At Moxi, I’ve assembled the ideal team, technology, customers and partners to make this a reality. We look forward to delivering consumers an integrated solution that simplifies and enhances their enjoyment of entertainment in the home, as well as providing broadband operators with a vehicle to deliver advanced services comparable in cost to their basic digital set-top boxes,” said Perlman. “Although many companies vy for ownership of the coveted ‘digital living room,’ none have come up with a solution that is both a win for consumers and is implementable by operators,” said Richard Doherty, president of technology consultancy The Envisioneering Group. “By understanding and solving system-level design problems and engineering flexible platforms and products that are affordable for network operators, Moxi's design team has crafted a solution that has previously eluded most operators looking to deploy advanced services. It’s a win-win." Moxi Media Center, A Total Home Entertainment Solution During CES, Moxi will conduct the first public demonstration of its integrated platform, the Moxi Media Center, in the EchoStar booth (#S19310). This device, which is a combination of a digital set-top box, video and music jukebox, media server, and Internet gateway and firewall, enables network operators to deliver advanced video, music and data applications to subscribers. The Moxi Media Center integrates all major formats of video, audio, and animation into a single, easy-to-use solution for the consumer. The key capabilities of the Moxi Media Center include: • The Moxi Media Guide™, a revolutionary new navigation system to simply and quickly find TV shows, movies, music and Flash animations, whether broadcasted, pre-recorded or downloaded through the Internet. -more-
Moxi Digital/2
• • •
•
The Moxi Media Player™, a secure multi-format, multi-transport, multi-room video and music playback system seamlessly integrated within the Moxi Media Guide. The Moxi Personal Video Recorder™, an advanced system that securely supports multi-tuner SDTV and HDTV broadcast video, DVDs and DVD-enhanced broadcast video, PPV, Cached PPV, VOD, and Subscription VOD content, with multi-room distribution. The Moxi Music Jukebox™, a new way to securely store hundreds of CDs and thousands of tracks, whether from physical CDs, downloaded music, or Dolby® surround-sound recordings, that is integrated with a rich music database. The Moxi Music Jukebox provides smart track bridging, playlist generation, and support for USB and Firewire®-based MP3 players. The Moxi Media Network™, a simple way to securely distribute video, music, and data throughout the home over wireless, coax (existing cable wiring), and Ethernet transports. Supported devices include Moxi Media Center Extensions™ (MCx™), TVs, PCs, Macs, and Palm devices.
Beyond the core set of video, music and data applications in its flagship product, Moxi has architected its platform for the delivery of future services such as IP telephony, digital imaging and online gaming so that network operators can enable new revenue-generating applications easily through software upgrades. EchoStar to Deploy Moxi Software Platform EchoStar Communications Corporation, the fastest growing U.S. direct broadcast satellite television company serving over 6.4 million customers, and Moxi today announced that EchoStar plans to deploy the Moxi software platform on its mainstream satellite receivers. As a result of the collaboration, EchoStar will provide customers a new suite of entertainment applications and services as well as new ways to navigate, find and experience digital media. In addition, Moxi’s flexible software platform will provide Echostar future revenue opportunities. Other software enhancements that are in development include advanced personal video recording functions, digital music services, and the delivery of advanced pay per view offerings, such as DVD-enhanced movies. (Please see separate release.) Industry-leading Partners Moxi also announced today several key partnerships that enable the company to integrate best-in-breed services into its advanced platform. (Please see separate releases.) Moxi will embed the Macromedia Flash™ Player 5 into the Moxi Media Center enabling the more than one million members of the Flash developer community to easily create unique applications for the new platform. Moxi has integrated the Macromedia Flash 5 Player throughout its entire platform, including its user interface, the Moxi Media Guide, and core entertainment applications. Additionally, the agreement allows cable and satellite network operators, as well as media and entertainment companies, to deliver an incredibly rich and highly customized interactive experience to consumers. RealNetworks®, Inc., the global leader in Internet media delivery, and Moxi have signed an agreement to integrate RealNetworks' RealOneTM Player as the preferred streaming media player in the Moxi Media Center. By combining Moxi's unique home distribution platform with the world's most popular Internet media player, RealNetworks' RealOne Player, cable and satellite customers will have access to millions of hours of high-quality digital media content in any room of the house. -more-
Moxi Digital/3
Moxi also announced a strategic relationship with world-leading systems security company, NDS Group plc, through which the companies plan to deliver cable and satellite providers with an open, secure revenue-generating platform for the home. Moxi will integrate NDS’s Open VideoGuard™ conditional access security solution into the Moxi Media Center. Additionally, the companies plan to integrate world-leading NDS interactive TV applications into the Moxi platform. Demonstrating how easily the Moxi Media Center can be deployed within a typical cable or satellite environment, the companies have already collaborated to build a working headend system at Moxi’s California headquarters. Strong Team to Drive Moxi Revenues Industry visionary and WebTV® creator, Steve Perlman, began developing the Moxi Media Center in January 2000. Armed with the mission of simplifying and enhancing the user experience in the home, Perlman has since grown the company to more than 115 employees, stemming from such corporations as Microsoft/WebTV, TiVo, Apple, Diva, Palm, ReplayTV, Cisco and Sun. Since the company’s founding, the Moxi team has filed 57 patents around its leading-edge technologies. Achieving a breakthrough in advanced set-top box architecture, the Moxi Media Center solution is about the same cost as the least expensive digital set-top box in a typical home configuration. Through the Moxi Media Center, network operators have a clear path to new incremental revenue streams through the delivery of high value applications such as PVR, DVD-enhanced PPV and VOD, digital music delivery, and home-networked Internet access. Moxi is backed by a $67 million first-round investment from such industry powerhouses as America Online, Cisco Systems, EchoStar Communications Corporation, Mayfield, Vulcan Ventures, The Barksdale Group, The Washington Post Company and Macromedia Ventures.
About Moxi Digital, Inc.: Founded in January 2000 by WebTV® creator Steve Perlman, Moxi Digital, Inc. is focused on delivering a total home entertainment solution that enhances and simplifies the consumer experience, while providing new revenue opportunities for broadband operators. The Company will fulfill this promise by providing advanced platforms, products and enabling technologies to broadband network operators such as cable, satellite and DSL providers. Moxi can provide a complete end-to-end solution including both hardware and software or specific components that are integrated into existing cable and satellite systems. The Company’s first all-in-one home entertainment platform, the Moxi Media Center, is a combination digital set-top box, video and music jukebox, media server, and Internet gateway and firewall. Through this device, which costs about the same as a basic digital set-top box in a typical home configuration, operators can deliver revenue-generating video, music and data applications to subscribers. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the privately-held start-up has attracted $67 million in Series A financing from America Online, Cisco Systems, EchoStar Communications, Mayfield, Vulcan Ventures, The Barksdale Group, The Washington Post Company and Macromedia Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.moxi.com. Moxi and the Moxi logo are trademarks of Moxi Digital, Inc. All other companies or products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
###
For More Information, Press Only: Gina Aumiller, Moxi Digital, (650) 838-6014, gina@moxi.com Diane Schreiber, for Moxi Digital, (415) 962 8200 x 231, diane@sparkpr.com Editor’s Note: Downloadable photography is available at http://www.moxi.com